This
page highlights academic resources, projects such as seminars, centers,
work groups or conferences initiated by or ongoing at particular academic
institutions. For other academic resources you might use for your own
teaching, mentoring, field work or research, see Books and Syllabi (or scroll down to the links below)

SITE
DIRECTOR

This
website was created and is maintained (when time permits) by Susan R.
Holman, an academic scholar, writer, and editor with experience in public health and religious history. For more on Dr. Holman's academic work:

CENTRE
FOR EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES AT AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY: Drs. Pauline Allen, Wendy Mayer, and Bronwen Neil of the Centre for
Early Christian Studies at Australian Catholic University received funding
from the Australian Research Council for a three-year study of poverty
in Late Antiquity. The project is testing the model of the relationship
between poverty and leadership at a time of social change recently proposed
by the influential historian, Peter Brown, by focusing on three pivotal
figures in a defined period across a significant geographical spread:
John Chrysostom (Byzantium), Augustine (North Africa), and Leo I (Italy).
Papers from the Centre's Fifth International Triennial Conference in
2008, on "Poverty and Riches" will be published soon: Geoffrey
D. Dunn, James S. McLaren, and Lawrence Cross, eds., Poverty and
Riches. Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church 5. Strathfield,
Australia: St. Paul's Publications.

GREEK
PATRISTIC TEXTS AS A NEW VOICE FOR CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT: The
Center for Catholic Social Thought at the Catholic University at Leuven,
Belgium (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) recently concluded a four-year
research project that asked the question, "Whither the influence
of Greek patristic texts in Catholic social thought of the past, the
present, and the future?" Under the direction of Professors Johan
Verstraeten and Johan Leemans, the project began with an evaluation
of the use of Greek and Latin patristic sources in the official documents
of Catholic social thought. This has already resulted in several publications,
and will include ultimately the preparation of a compendium of Greek
patristic texts that address matters of social ethics. It is anticipated
that these resources will be of great relevance and interest to Catholic
leaders and lay persons worldwide who are engaged in social issues.
Focusing on Greek texts from the Apostolic Fathers to the Council of
Chalcedon will allow the team to explore the common heritage of the
Western and Eastern churches in Europe. A deeper knowledge of a common
heritage can lead to a common platform for transcultural conversations
on socio-ethical problems.

October
13-15, 2005: "Wealth
and Poverty in Early Christianity,"The
Second Annual Conference of the Stephen and Catherine Pappas Patristic
Institute, at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston,
Massachusetts. Conference papers are now published in: Susan R. Holman
(ed.), Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society (Holy Cross
Studies in Patristic Theology and History; Grand Rapids: BakerAcademic,
2008).

Berlin
Institute for Christian Ethics and Policy (ICEP) Founded in 2004,
ICEP is a research institution of the Catholic University of Applied
Sciences in Berlin, Germany. A political "think-tank," the
Institute seeks to serve as a platform for Christian ethics in the
European political arena, with a particular interest in issues of
healthcare and social services. If your German is a bit rusty, just
click on "English" on the home page to read all about it.

European
Business Ethics Network is "the only international network
dedicated wholly to the promotion of business ethics in European private
industry, public sector, voluntary organizations, and academia."
Its leadership is closely affiliated with the Catholic University
of Leuven, Belgium.

Project
on Lived Theology: Housed in the Department of Religious Studies
at the University of Virginia, the Project on Lived Theology is a
Lilly Endowment Initiative that seeks to understand the way theological
convictions shape the everyday patterns and practices of particular
communities. The Project was founded in 1996 by religion and human
rights professor and scholar Charles Marsh, author of Reclaiming
Dietrich Bonhoeffer; God's
Long Summer (which won the Grawemeyer Award in Religion), The
Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice from the Civil
Rights Movement to Today, and most recently Wayward Christian
Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity. The Project
also endeavours to demonstrate the importance of theological ideas
in the public conversation about religion and social responsibility.
It sponsors workgroups, events and conferences, and fosters ideas
for "theology in action." Visit its website for bibliographies
of particular relevance to these themes and more information, or write
to: The Project on Lived Theology, Cocke Hall, University of Virginia,
PO Box 400126, Charlottesville VA 22904-4126; tel. 434-924-6743; fax
434-982-2139; email: pltheology@virginia.edu

Society
of Christian Ethics (SCE). Based in St. Cloud, Minnesota, SCE
is a non-denominational association with over 950 members that works
"to promote scholarly work in Christian ethics and in the relation
of Christian ethics to other traditions of ethics, and to social,
economic, political and cultural problems and to encourage and improve
the teaching of these fields in colleges, universities and theological
schools; and to provide a community of discourse and debate for those
engaged professionally within these general fields."

Read
John Chrysostom's late fourth- or early fifth-century sermons on the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus online here (but beware this is an 1869 translation).

The
New York School of Philanthropy, Studies in Social Work, published
between 1915 and 1917 several rare English translations of historical
texts on poverty and religious responses. If you are unable to locate
them through your research library, the texts below are available as
pdf documents from our website on request:

A
Sermon on Alms by John Chrysostom (early 5th century) (translated
from PG 51.260-271). Translation by Margaret M. Sherwood, Studies
in Social Work 10 (Feb. 1917)

Rabbinic
text: "Section on charity" from the mid-16th century Rabbinic
text, Shulhan Arukh.Translation by Louis Feinberg, Studies
in Social Work 6 (Nov. 1915).

Juan-Luis
Vives (16th century humanist):, Book 2 of his 1526 letter to the senate
of Bruges, "Concerning the relief of the Poor or, Concerning
Human Need." Translation by Margaret M. Sherwood, Studies
in Social Work 11 (Feb. 1917). [for more about a new scholarly
critical edition of this entire work, visit our "News" page or our bibliography of books on poverty that relate to the medieval
period.]